Sexing Zebras an idea I have

[fullychichlid]

Hi everyone

Recently I bought 20 zebra chichlids ranging from 5cm to about 7cm..

I bought this many as I want too keep a breeding colony of about 5 female and two males.

I know about venting but these fish are small..

I want to move them to a tank I am cycling.

Now my idea is to place them in the tank 1 at a time and the ones I think are female ( due to size, egg spots and behaviours ) go in first 1 fish every two days This will help with not overloading tank.

Now what I am thinking is I will watch the fish . If 1 starts becoming territorial or showing male traits well it's a male .

If I have what I think are all females and they don't colour up or display territorial areas they are female..

My question is will this work?

Cheers

[Josh]

"If 1 starts becoming territorial or showing male traits well it's a male"

That's a bad assumption to make. Add them all at once and let them sort themselves out. The first fish added will take a territory and defend it against the others that are added. I have had a lot of Mbuna varieties where females have been dominate.

Subdomnate males also may not show color.

What variety of Zebras are they?

At 7cm's you should be able to vent them.

Josh

[intangcity]

can u seperate into two lots of ten in seperate tanks?

[fullychichlid]

Thanks for the advice. I do have two tanks and am pretty sure I have at least 5 females. I will put these five in the new tank with a definite male and take it from there.

Cheers

[LithoMan]

so do you know what type of zebra it is ?

the name of the fish that will also help with the male/female sexing

[Ducksta]

The best way I found (and I know many other people do the same) is the exact opposite.
Remove known males one by one as they show themselves. Keep track of them so you remember which ones you like best to keep.
At 7cm you should be starting to have mouthfuls so you can keep track of known females this way too.

[fullychichlid]

Thanks everyone I am learning alot. Re what type of Zebra are the seller did not know as he got them from a friend. To me they look like red top zebras as the patterns and colours imply this. I will put up a photo soon to double check.

[FullyYellow]

Second what ducksta said. Remove the males one by one and if females hold then it's a dead giveaway. Requires 2 tanks though.

[Gombe]

Another way to check with fish with vertical bars is to put them in a bucket, the darker ones will be males. Not 100 percent of course

[LithoMan]

I would make sure 100% you know what they are

Before putting all the effort in and breeding them and then selling them off as unkown

You will be much better off buying the fish from a breeder and know what fish you have

Fingers crossed they are not a cross breed

Cheers

[fullychichlid]

Thanks every one. I am almost certain they a red top zebras. I will get a photo up shortly.. I agree with getting from a breeder however as mentioned I am in Tassie. Just moved here and getting to know places and people who have a passion for chichlids. Prices for fish down here is astronomical. Four 5cm fish sexes unknown and importers want $70.